Exactly five weeks following my return to Taipei was Christmas Eve. For me Christmas has always been an important time of year to spend time with those whom I care for the most and as this was to be the third Christmas I'd spent away from my home and family I knew it would be lonely one.Don't get me wrong, coming back to Taipei has been just as wonderful as I anticipated it would be. I admit, I had some fear that I would regret my decision to boomerang back to Taiwan; however, I've been extremely joyful to be back in one of my favourite cities in the world.
My foremost priorities upon returning were finding a place and means (employment) to live.
Just as had when I first arrived in Taipei in April 2012, I spent the first week in a hostel. Both my goals were accomplished far quicker that I expected. Following just six days in Taipei I had found and moved into a great and large apartment with 3 roommates.
Less than half a week later I was employed by a promising job, teaching elementary aged children. I actually have ended up working at a school owned by the magazine company that I had previously done acting work for and it's going very well.
Things had gone very well for me to this point, and I had become reacquainted with all of my Taipei friends and was quickly transitioning back into the Taiwan expat lifestyle.
Despite having no national holiday to commemorate the occasion, Taiwan does embrace the consumerist hype of the holiday season. The presence of Christmas spirit is most evident at shopping malls and department stores with their bright, colorful seasonal decorations, lights and over-sized Christmas trees.
Returning to the Christmas Eve, with which I started this post, it was an unmemorable one spent in a bar, joined by one of my roommates and for the second year in a row, I worked on Christmas day. Fortunately for me I had already celebrated Christmas at home with my family over a month earlier in Vancouver.
 |
| Beautiful weather for a New Year's Eve bike-ride! |
The first weekend of 2014 I attended the Taipei International Auto Show. While I don't consider myself to be a major auto-enthusiast, I did enjoy the spectacle of the show and it was a nice way to spend a cloudy and windy Saturday afternoon.
My teaching schedule had gradually filled up since I arrived back in Taipei and I have also been filling my spare hours working as an actor for the English education publication company, as I did before I left Taiwan last July. Recently we have been filming a DVD to accompany a book for Hospitality management students. The scenes require me to play hotel, restaurant and airline staff and customers and for sets we have ubeen using the training classrooms of a technical university in the city of Taoyuan. Taoyuan is about an hour drive from Taipei, but to save time we have been commuting with Taiwan's high-speed rail which takes just 20 minutes. The /University classrooms are really neat and include a full floor set up as a mock hotel and an impressive faux airplane interior and airport, complete with security-check, customs and check in counters. Needless to say, the acting work is hardly anything like work at all.
In the Chinese Zodiac this will be the year of the horse, and if it's anything like being saddled on the back of one, it'll likely be full ups-and-downs; I'm just looking forward to enjoying the ride!
 |
| A small section of a massive line for the newly opened Krispy Kreme. |
 |
| My favourite Taiwanese food! |
